Button-feeding mechanism.



No. 707,329 Patentd Aug. l9, I902; v

J. nonmsv.

BUTTON FEEDING MECHANISM.

(Application filed Apt. 12, 1902.)

2 Sheets-Shee'i I.

(No Model.)

UVVENTOH WITNESSES: I 77 a? Ya: Nomus PETERS co vuuraumou wAsnwo-rou u c Nu.7n7 ,329 Patented Aug. I9, 1902.

.,, J.-H 0BMBY.

BUTTON FEEDING MECHANISM.

I (Application filed Apr. 12, 1902.)

(Nn'ModeL) 2 SheetsSheet 2.-

WITNESSES //v VEN 70/? fiab ATTORNEY THE Nonms Pzrznito. PHoTo-LlTHa, WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HORMBY, OF WOONSOGKET, RHODE ISLAND.

BUTTON-FEEDING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 707,329, dated August-. 19, 1902.

Application filed April 12, 1902. Serial No. 102,643. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN HORMBY, a citizen of the United States, residingat Woonsocket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Button-Feeding Mechanisms, of which the followingisaspecification.

This invention relates to mechanism for feeding buttons from one mechanism or operation to another in machines for making or finishing buttons, especially in machines for making buttons of the well-known ivory-nut or vegetable ivory or like materials, such feeding mechanism being adapted for use wherever buttons in blank or finished form are required to be presented in particular positions and singly to any mechanism for further operating upon them.

It is the object of this invention to provide improved mechanism by which buttons or blanks may be fed singly and with the proper face up and whereby it will be impossible for a wrongly-placed button or blank or more.

than one at a time to be fed forward; and with this object in view the invention consists in the improved construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and afterward specifically claimed.

I have illustrated mechanism embodying my invention in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a View in front elevation, a portion of the hopper being broken away. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view illustrating in vertical section the retaining-guard in contact with two buttons. Fig. 3 is a similar View with the guard in contact with a reversed button. Fig. 4: is a view of the mechanism in side elevation, part of the hopper being broken away to expose the interior.

Like reference characters indicate the same parts wherever they occur in the several figures.

Referringto the drawings,1indicatesaconic frustum mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis in suitable bearings upon a pedestal 2 and to be actuated by any suitable driving mechanism. (Not shown.) This conic frustum has the appearance somewhat of a bevel gear-wheel, being provided in its periphery with grooves, as at 3 3, &c., and a hopper 4, mounted alongside of the frustum on a pedestal or suitable support 2, is closed at thebottom and on the side 5, but open at the top and at the side adjacent to the frustum.

Secured on top of the hopper is a guard 6, of suitably-elastic sheet metal, the main body of which lies upon the hopper in a horizontal position, while its forward end is curved downward and backward, as at 7, so that said curved end is in its normal position. practieally tangential to the exterior grooved surface of the frustum and almost touching said surface, the edge of the guard having a position substantially parallel with each groove, passing under it as the frustum rotates.

In front of the hopper and mounted on the pedestal 2 is a runway-plate or chute 8, provided with'a projecting face 9, which serves to retain the buttons'in place before they reach the proper point of discharge.

The mechanism herein shown and described is designed to feed buttons having a convex back and a fiat recessed front face, and the operation of this mechanism may be described as follows;

The hopper 4 being filled with buttons promiscuously placed therein in every conceivable position, the conic frustum is causedto rotate'in the directionof the hands of a clock, as indicated by the arrow in the drawings. The buttons are agitated and tumbled about by the rotating frustum and when raised thereby are liable to fall back until they ongage face downward in one of the grooves of the frustum. When a button lies in this position in a groove, it is retained therein and carried around under the guard and projecting face 9 and nntilit reaches a point directly over the runway orchute to the right of the projection 9, when it falls by its own weight from the groove upon the runway or chute, by which it is delivered in any desired direction. If,'however, a button is lodgedin one of the grooves 3 3 of the rotating frustum with its face upward and its convex back downward, it will not pass under the guard-plate, but will be caught by the lower edge thereof, as shown in Fig. 3, because its edge will proj ect beyond the peripheral surface of the frustum to which the guard-plate is tangent, and it will thus be caused to drop back to the bottom of the hopper and to be mixed with the remaining mass of buttons.

In a like manner should two superposed buttons happen to be caught in a groove of the rotating frustum the upper button will be engaged by the edge of the guard-plate, as shown in Fig. 2, and scraped ofl? the lower button and returned into the mass of buttons in the hopper. By this combined action of the guard-plate and the grooved periphery of the frustum no button will be permitted to pass the guard-plate, and thus be projected down the runway or chute, except it be alone and faced downward in the groove, so that all of the buttons are delivered singly upon the runway and properly faced.

The guard-plate 6, as before stated, is made of resilient material, preferably brass plate, so that it will yield without breaking under undue strainsuch, for instance, as would be put upon it in the event that a mass of buttons should become jammed between it and the frustum. The mechanism thus described is simple and economical, but efficient, and will reverse even a single button should one be caught in the wrong position and moved around in one of the grooves of the frustu n1.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new is 1. The combination in a button-feeding mechanism, of a runway, a frustum of a cone mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis and provided with grooves in its external periphery each of which is parallel with the runway when at the point of delivery, a hopper one side of which is formed by the face of the frustum, and a guard projecting from, and in the plane of the top of, the hopper with its end tangential to the grooved external surface of the frustum.

2. A button-feeding mechanism comprising a runway, and a conic frustum mounted to rotate upon a horizontal axis and provided with grooves in its external surface each of which is parallel with the runway when at the point of delivery, in combination with a hopper one side of which is formed by the face of the frustum, a guard projecting from the top of the hopper and whose outer surface is parallel With the external surface of the frustum, and a runway-plate placed in front of the smaller side of the frustum and provided with a projecting guard whereby the buttons are retained upon the conic frustum until the point of delivery is reached.

3. A button-feeding mechanism comprising a conic frustum provided with buttonreceiving grooves in its face and mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis, a hopper by the side of the frustum having the side adjacent to the face of the frustum open whereby the contents of the hopper lie on said surface of the frustum, and an elastic guard upon the top of the hopper projecting over the face of the frustum having its end turned under and backward with the edge thereof parallel to the grooves of the frustum when passing under it, said edge being normally at the proper distance from the frustum to permit of the passage of only one button at a time and in its proper position.

4. A button-feeding mechanism comprising a grooved conic frustum mounted to rotate upon a horizontal axis, a hopper of a width equal to the thickness of the frustum located adjacent to one side of said frustum, and having the side next to the frustum open, a guard projecting from the hopper over the frustum into a position to permit of the passage of but one button at a time thereunder, a runway at the smaller end of the frustum in position to receive the buttons in the grooves of the frustum as they reach their uppermost position, and a guard projecting from the runway adjacent to the smaller end of the frustum into position to prevent the discharge of buttons from the grooves of the frustum while between the hopper and their uppermost positions.

Witness my hand this 21st day of March, 1902, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN HORMBY.

lVitnesses:

EDWIN J. PERIN, Jr., RALPH F. BUNKER. 

